A reader of this blog told me that recently self-proclaimed “healing masters” have been visiting a lot of shrines across the country together with their believers in the name of injecting energy into the shrines for purification. In one of the groups, a lot of problems are happening to the members such as falling ill, getting injured or their relatives dying suddenly. Even a doctor who examined a member of the group died suddenly. Though the group asked a psychic for help, the psychic himself was defeated by something like an ogre and was at a complete loss.

recently 最近

self-proclaimed 自称の

inject 注入する

purification 浄化

relative 親戚

suddenly 突然に

examine 診察する

defeat 打ち負かす

ogre 鬼

I’m not sure if this story is true or not because the reader was anonymous. But now that we are in the age of the spiritual sunlight, they are surely doing a very dangerous thing if it’s true because they are contaminating shrines spiritually. The reader may be thinking that the leader of the group is to blame. Yes, but in my spiritual vision, it seems that the leader, ignorant of spiritual truth, is not aware that the problems were caused by what they did. Doing such a silly thing as injecting energy into shrines is nothing but blasphemy against deities. Ignorance brings about dire consequences.

anonymous 匿名の

contaminate 穢す

be to blame 責められるべき

ignorannt 無知の

aware 気づいて

nothing but A Aに他ならない

blasphemy 冒涜

deity 祭神

dire 恐ろしい

consequence 結果

What I saw in my spiritual vision on hearing this story was Kenzoku-shin（眷属神） of Oh-miwa-shrine（大神神社）in Nara prefecture. Those related to the group seem to have performed a silly ritual at Mt.Miwa（三輪山）, a divine mountain which people should be prohibited from entering into. The Kenzoku-shin is furious and has set in motion.

prefecture 県

related 関係した

ritual 儀式

divine 神聖な

prohibit 禁止する

get furious 激怒する

set in motion 動き出す

The deity of Oh-miwa shrine is a spiritual body like a huge snake winding around the mountain seven and a half fold. The snake-like spiritual body is so huge that it covers the whole mountain. The Kenzoku-shin is mad saying the group tried to tamper with its master’s spiritual magnetism or color, contaminating it. What they did was like intentionally provoking a fight against the sanctuary rather than attaching spiritual dirt. Once Kenzoku-shin moves, it tries to destroy all of those related indiscriminately like a machine.

wind 巻きつく

whole 全体の

tamper 干渉する

magnetism 磁気

provoke 引き起こす

sanctuary 聖域

destroy 破壊する

indiscrimately 無差別に

The name of the deity of this shrine is Oh-mono-nushi-no-oh-kami（大物主大神）. The true identity of this spiritual being has long been unknown. According to my spiritual reading, this holy spirit is not Kuni-tsu-kami（国津神） nor Ama-tsu-kami （天津神）belonging to Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami（天照太御神）. It is the great loan holy spirit without any spiritual minions at other shrines that has existed alone in the center of Japan since super-ancient times.

true identity 正体

loan 孤高の

minion 子分

super-ancient times 超古代

According to Kojiki（古事記） and Nihonshoki（日本書紀）, the emperor at that time was attacked by fever and couldn’t get rid of it, so he tried gods’s fortune telling. The answer was “This is because of the lack of awe and respect towards the deity of Miwa.” The emperor and his senior vassals trembled for fear and performed polite rituals for the deity, so that the emperor was said in a dream”Then I forgive you.” The deity is very fearful being in a way.

emperor 天皇

fever 熱

get rid of A Aを取り除く

fortune telling 占い

lack 欠如

awe 畏怖

senior vassal 重臣

tremble 震える

polite きちんとした

forgive 許す

Looking at this holy spirit spiritually, I feel that it has something to do with the ancient Aztec empire and Mayan civilization. It is an ancient energy body related to sun worship but not a pure spiritual body like Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami. I feel like it has controlled this material civilization, symbolized by immolation and blood, and has something to do with the secret of the creation of human beings and civilizations on the earth. In archaic words, the Japanese “mono” means “ogre.” That is, Oh-mono-nushi can be said to be the king of ogres and it has relation to Susanoo（スサノオ）.

In early August, I bought young Hon-Sakaki plants, planted them in my garden and, selecting four from them, offered them to my household shinto altar. Before offering them, I washed each of the big leaves carefully and put two plants at each side of the altar. Sakaki plants of your own planting breed worms easily. Non-Sakaki plants I bought at a flower shop before were bunched up beautifully. Though I thought the amount of the leaves of the two Hon-Sakaki plants was small, I put them with some leaves sticking out in a natural way.

altar 祭壇

worm 虫

bunch 束ねる

stick out 飛び出る

When I got Shinsatsu（神札）, a kind of talisman available at shinto shrines, at Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮）and enshrined it in my shinto altar on August 15, I cut off two branches of the Hon-sakaki plants in my garden and added one to the Sakaki plants at each side of the altar. This three Sakaki plants looked different from the two ones, when I clearly perceived the difference in the degree to which holy energy approaches them. I had a new understanding of how important the number of leaves of Sakaki plants beside the shinto altar, because the leaves function as Yorishiro, a kind of medium for spirits to stay at temporarily.

available 入手できる

enshrine 祀る

perceive 知覚する

function 機能する

medium 媒介

It has been more than a month since I offered the Hon-Sakaki plants, but their conditions have not changed at all. I found drops of water around Sakaki stands recently. Looking at it closely, I found that the leaves had absorbed water and got wet. They are living creatures, aren’t they?

condition 状態

drop of water 水滴

recently 最近

closely 近くに

absorb 吸収する

By 2007, I had often found a phenomenon that Sakaki plants at the right side of the shinto alter wither first. This is because a local deity attaches negative energy of defilement of a house it patrols to the leaves of the Sakaki plants at the right side. In the future ahead, however, this phenomenon will cease to happen. I think the leaves of Sakaki plants at both sides will wither at the same time.

phenomenon 現象

wither 枯れる

local 地域の

deity 神

attach つける

defilement 汚れ

cease やめる

This has something to do with the fact that as the spiritual light of the sun becomes more and more intense, spiritual beings who work for God will be absorbed in their superior spiritual beings and the latter will also be absorbed in spiritual beings higher in rank. All spiritual beings belonging to the World of Gods will either return to Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami （天照太御神）or work for God as Inner God of living human beings.

have something to do with A Aと何らかの関係がある

spiritual light 霊光

intense 強烈な

belong 属する

In the era to come, “outer” gods will leave shrines and by visiting a shrine, you can have your Inner God manifest itself more easily. As a result, the original function of ancient shinto will revive, meaning that shinto shrines are where living gods(=humans =divine pillars) stand. I’m really looking forward to the advent of the new era.

era 時代

manifest oneself 現れる

function 機能

ancient 古代の

revive 復活する

advent 到来

By the way, I paid a visit to Shirayama-Hime shrine（白山比咩神社）in Ishikawa prefecture in the evening in the evening last month. The shrine office had already been closed and no purification ceremony was not performed in the shrine building. So luckliy I was able to stand right in front of Haiden, a place for pray, with no one standing between me and Haiden for the first time in a while. Just then, I perceived the same energy body of the holy spirit I see spiritually every time I visit Ise Grand Shrine. I felt its high purity.

ritual 儀式

purification ceremony お祓い

for the first time in a while 久しぶりに

every time S+V SがVする度に

Trying to go back, I found a young couple in their twenties worshipping toward the big sacred rock, whose form is that of three mountains of Mt. Hakusan, located at Hakusan-okunomiya-yohai-sho（白山奥宮遥拝所）. The young man had long, bleached hair and wore glittering pierced earrings with a big hole. He was dressed like a rapper. I, looking at him with my wife, thought his attitude was really great. He was worshipping very politely and naturally without pretentiousness. There was something clean and pure about the way he worshipped, which holy spirits would love. I felt no spiritual dirt of any new religion about him.

worship 礼拝する

sacred 神聖な

bleached hair 茶髪

attitude 態度

polite 礼儀正し

pretensiousness 気負い

dirt 垢

When I, walking back to the parking lot with my wife, said to her “A young man like him is rare. How did he build such a graceful attitude? Is he a reader of my blog?” She suggested that we go back to talk to him, so we went back to the precinct only to find that he had already gone. The fact that there is a young generation who can worship naturally like him makes me sure that the new era is about to come.

Some people change their family’s gravestone to a new one in another graveyard for some reason and others in a new type of cemetery like a locker room, which has been increasing in number in cities. These are what can’t be avoided in the modern age. But what you have to be careful of is that, when you do that, it often happens that your ancestral spirits have failed to move.

gravestone 墓跡

graveyard 墓地

cemetery 共同墓地

ancestral 先祖の

fail to~ 〜しない

People in general will think that they have no choice but to ask a Buddhist priest for help about this kind of thing. But there is one thing you can do easily to have your ancestral spirits move to the other place. This is what only descendants can do.

in general 一般の

have no choice but to~ 〜するしかない

Buddhist priest 僧侶

descendant 子孫

Take some soil, or pebbles, from the ground around the previous gravestone and put it in the urn in a new gravestone or scatter it around the new one. If the ground surface is made of concrete or stone, scatter the small amount of the soil on it so as not to stand out. When you take the soil from the previous graveyard, say to yourself or aloud “My ancestral spirits, please move to this soil.” The amount of the soil depends on the surroundings and type of a new gravestone.

soil 土

pebble 小石

urn 骨壷

scatter 撒く

stand out 目立つ

If you have prepared a new grave already, scatter the soil on the ground around it. If you haven’t build one yet, mix it with the soil of the site for a new gravestone. A bucket of soil will be enough. Or if the new grave is at a place like a locker room, put the small amount of the soil in a container and put it in the grave. A container with a lid is good, too.

site 用地

a bucket of A バケツ一杯のA

container 容器

lid 蓋

However, if you hold memorial services for your ancestors at home, no ancestral spirits are at the grave. If you don’t, on the other hand, some of your ancestral spirits will linger in this world being at a loss where to go and wander around the grave. And when you change the grave, they’re left behind where it was.

linger いつまでもいる

at a loss 途方に暮れて

wander うろつく

leave A behind Aを置いていく

When a grave is demolished, ancestral spirits are displaced, so that they try to depend on their descendants having negative effects on them. More and more families won’t be able to have their family’s grave. But as long as they hold memorial services for their ancestors at home, there won’t be any spiritual problem.

demolish 取り壊す

displace 立退かす

effect 影響

By the way, there was a long period of time when people in general were not allowed to visit Naiku（内宮） of Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮）. The Imperial House had been practiced holding memorial services for both Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami（天照太御神）and their ancestral spirits for more than two thousand years, accumulating the holy energy of Ise because they knew this method of worshipping both Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami, who is very close to the Original Being, or the parent of life, and their ancestral spirits causes a strong, practical effect on the World of Reality.

allow 許す

the Imperial House 皇室

cause 引き起こす

practical 実践的な

Thanks to the method, the Imperial House has existed for a couple of thousand years. Other families couldn’t imitate the same method or rituals. Though some powerful, unique emperors appeared in the long history of the Imperial House, they soon fell from power in one or a few generations. No one could break the absolute spiritual barrier of the Imperial House.

thanks to A Aのお陰で

imitate 真似する

ritual 儀式

emperor 天皇

generation 世代

absolute 絶対的な

Ise-Hakusan Dou is the way of reviving the secret ritual of worshipping ancestral spirits, which has been hidden consciously by the present Ise Grand Shrine, and leading you to Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami, the origin of life. It can be said that the time has come for the future when the significance of worshipping both the Sun God and ancestral spirits should be made known to the whole world.

The other day, according to TV news, an elevator in a construction site fell down accidentally and two people in the elevator were killed. They said that, in the same construction site, there happened a death accident because of the fall of a machine. No sooner had I heard this news than I felt a furious anger of a spiritual being. Such spiritual beings are intense who hinder construction work like this. The spiritual being is hindering the construction work. There should be no building there.

construction 工事

machine 機材

furious anger 激しい怒り

hinder 妨げる

intense 強烈な

Some of those related to the construction company and the residents of the building will be harmed by the spiritual being according to their own karma. Those related to the construction who have practiced holding memorial services for their ancestors wouldn’t take the job somehow. Or if they are prospective tenants, they wouldn’t choose such an apartment, feeling that something is wrong with the building.

harm 害を与える

according to A Aに従って

prospective 見込みの

slight わずかな

When you need to build a building at the site where there used to be Koshinzuka（庚申塚）, a roadside stone post dedicated to a Japanese legendary worrier, or a spiritual being resides , you have to offer a memorial service with Yorishiro（依り代）, a place for spirits to stay at temporarily, set up as a mark before starting the construction. Normal shinto ceremony couldn’t cope with such a spiritual being. If you know the information that there used to be a tombstone at the construction site, you can take some appropriate measures, but if it’s been removed, it’s hard for you to do it.

dedicate 奉納する

cope 対処する

It’s very important to make a formal greeting to the spiritual being of a site before touching the ground. If you do this in advance, you’ll be forgiven by the spiritual being, even if the spirit is an intense one. As might be an inappropriate comparison, Yakuza in days of old wouldn’t hinder someone’s business as long as the merchant make a formal greeting to them before starting the business, and would often protect the business. Yakuza get mad when they’re ignored. There seems to be an analogy between Yakuza and intense spiritual beings.

greeting 挨拶

in advance 前もって

forgive 赦す

as long as S+V SがVする限り

ignore 無視する

analogy 類似点

When a person who practices holding memorial services for his/her ancestors always being grateful to holy spirits visits a local shrine to make a greeting, the spirit residing there recognizes the person immediately, for the person’s body is covered with the magnetism of what he/she is doing in everyday life.

reside 住む

immediately すぐに

magnetism 磁気

If you’re engaged in construction or real estate business, pay a visit to a local shrine to make a greeting before entering a new land and say “Please allow me to do my work here from now on. Thank you so much.”

Since I started this blog, I’ve been often asked by female readers which surname to write on Tanzaku, the present one or the previous one? My answer is – use the present one you actually use. Even if you’ve got another surname for some reason, use the one you’re now using. The reason for this is that you’re using your present surname because of your spiritual karma.

present 現在の

previous 前の

karma 因縁

When you change your surname, the spiritual line by which you’re affected is also changed. Your countenance, body shape, health, character and taste are changed, too. So if your surname is changed because of marriage, divorce, bereavement, adoptive marriage etc, you should use the new surname in holding a memorial service.

affect 影響する

countenance 顔つき

taste 嗜好

bereavement 死別

Well, what should you do with the family line of the previous surname? Don’t worry. The third incense stick you offer during a memorial service can take care of it. I know you wonder “Is this really OK?” because you just only say “for the other spirits related to me” without saying any particular name when you offer the third incense stick toward Tanzaku with the different surname on it.

wonder 〜かなと思う

related 関係した

particular 特定の

But in terms of the spirit world, it’s important that you don’t mention any particular name. This is because memorial services are to be held for a lot of spirits in the past. Ancestors that you know and whom you can think of are only part of the whole ancestors. While there are some spirits resting in peace who can move about at will, there are a tremendous number of spirits who can’t move at all because of suffering.

in terms of A Aの観点から

mention 言及する

past 過去

think of A Aを思いつく

whole 全体の

at will 自在に

tremendous ものすごい

suffering 苦しみ

Holding memorial services for the whole ancestral spirits without mentioning names helps ancestral spirits in peace to relieve the other ancestral spirits in trouble. Those in peace can relieve other spirits until they, or the souls, leave for another reincarnation. But there’s no problem about it because there are a lot of other sprits who can move freely in the spiritual line of a family line.

relieve 助ける

reincarnation 転生

In the spirit world, you can leave everything to such spirits in peace. Since living human beings don’t know anything about what’s going on in the spirit world, it’s better to leave everything to them. All descendants have to do is offer energy of gratitude to the whole ancestral spirits so that they can be active. On the other hand, holding memorial services with the use of a memorial tablet or Tanzaku with a particular name on it can alienate the spirit from the other ancestral spirits or cause the spirit to cling to this world.

leave A to B AをBに任せる

descendant 子孫

alienate 遠ざける

cling 執着する

It’s very good to show gratitude to a particular deceased toward the memorial tablet for the whole ancestral spirits. The deceased will be taken care of as priority by ancestral spirits in peace. If you have a memorial tablet for a particular person at your Buddhist altar, you can leave it as it is. Just put it in the corner. The point is you console the whole ancestral spirits using the memorial tablet for them put in front.

The Memorial Service for the War Dead is held on August 15 every year, where a wooden pillar with the words “Spirits of The War Dead” written on it stands at the center of the altar. I’ve read an article by a scholar saying that, since the pillar works as Yorishiro which the spirits of the war dead who are invited to approach, the word “位” meaning “place” should be attached to the words.

the war dead 戦没者

pillar 柱

altar 祭壇

article 記事

attach 付け加える

In some traditional Buddhist sects in Japan they don’t write the word “位 ” on a memorial tablet. Though some new religious groups practice holding memorial services for ancestors using Tanzaku, a strip of Japanese paper for spirits to come close to stay at, they don’t write the word, either. Even self-proclaimed professional psychics declare that the word is not necessary.

sect 宗派

self-claimed 自称の

declare 公言する

However, if you had the ability to perceive spiritual reality, the spiritual difference of the existence or non- existence of the word “位” would be obvious. Without the word, spirits couldn’t recognize the tablet or pillar as Yorishiro, so that they would be at a loss where to stay though invited. They would float and drift around the place and try to possess those present. That is, it’s vague where they should stay. In this situation, it is difficult for the spirits to be consoled. If the word is written on the memorial tablet or Tanzaku, spirits will recognize it as a resting place and gather around it. And then if you hold a memorial service for them, you can console them effectively.

ability 能力

perceive 知覚する

obvious 明らかな

be at a loss 途方にくれる

possess 憑依する

those present 出席者

vague 曖昧な

console 慰める

When I was given by a holy spirit the method of Ise-Hakusan Dou, I was told to write the word “位” using a little bit larger character than the other words because the last word is essential and important. Just as the base of a tombstone is massive, I feel that the word “位” supports one’s family line from the bottom.It is meaningful that the scholar suggests the same thing as what I feel about the spiritual reality. It can be said that the scholastic knowledge coincides with the spiritual reality.

character 文字

essential 不可欠な

tombstone 墓跡

massive がっしりとした

bottom 下

meaningful 意義深い

coincide 一致する

Why does such a Chinese character affect the spirit world? This is because the history and cultural customs, such as characters, of where people have lived long are accumulated in the form of spiritual magnetism. I feel that, though human genes or spirits cannot be perceived on the surface, a magnetic field of a place or space brings about such a phenomenon.

affect 影響する

gene 遺伝子

magnetic field 磁場

bring about A Aを引き起こす

phenomenon 現象

In this sense, it is important that in foreign countries, a word corresponding to “place” should be written at the last of the sentence on Yorishiro. In terms of shamanism too, where a shaman conjure up spirits to console them, it’s important for the spirits, as well as the human, to have an image of a place or location for them to stay at.

In terms of the spirit world, I’ve considered how a person with a foreign surname hold memorial services for ancestors, such as a Japanese woman who’s changed her surname to that of her foreign husband, a foreign family who’s become naturalized as a Japanese one or a Japanese woman who’s got married to a foreign man but still has her surname different from his.

in terms of A Aの観点から

surname 氏名

naturalize 帰化させる

Firstly, if you’re a Japanese woman who has a foreign surname, you can write her foreign name in the foreign language or in katakana characters on Tanzaku, a kind of cardboard for spirits to stay at temporarily. Because a memorial service is held through the doer’s brain in a way, an understandable language is good.

firstly まず第一に

brain 脳

understandable 理解できる

Secondly, if you’re a Japanese woman who has a different surname from that of your foreign husband, you should use her husband’ surname in holding a memorial service. When a couple uses their own surname separately, they can’t become one spiritually. They couldn’t feel like a family and troubles between them would never stop happening. Using husband’s surname produces harmony between married couples. The third incense stick you offer in a memorial service can take care of your own ancestors of the previous family line and other spirits related to you.

secondly 二つ目に

separately 別々に

produce 生み出す

harmony 調和

previous 前の

related 関係した

The word “Place” you write on Tanzaku is important, so write it in the language you feel best. “Place” means the location where spirits stay, so translate it into your language meaning “location” or “place” and write the word. When you hold a memorial service, you make use of your brain wave, and therefore the language of your own choosing is the best. When you show gratitude to your ancestors, use the words of your country meaning “gratitude for being kept alive.” The words do act on the spirits.

translate 翻訳

make use of A Aを利用する

brain wave 脳波

therefore それゆえ

gratitude 感謝の気持ち

keep A alive Aを生かしておく

act on A Aに作用する

The reason why the language you feel the best is important is that by holding the spiritual ritual the doer’s thought and mental energy turns into magnetism that practically consoles spirits and the magnetism is etched into space. In this respect, if the doer wonders if the language is OK, the amount of the magnetism reaching spirits decreases.

ritual 儀式

turn into A Aに変わる

console 慰める

etch 刻み込む

respect 点

amount 量

decrease 減る

refer

If you’re not a Japanese, use the following illustrations as reference. The size of Tanzaku is about 30 centimeters tall. You can choose the language and the way you write it.

Cross-type: you write the words meaning “The Place for My Ancestors’ Spirits” from left to right.

Vertically-long type: you use Tanzaku made in Japan if possible. If you understand Japanese, write “The Place for The So and So s’ Ancestral Spirits” in katanaka characters or Chinese characters.

Use a stiff white cardboard and write the words boldly with a black or golden felt-tip pen so that your ancestral spirits can come close easily. Tanzaku must be thick (2mm is the best). Corrugated paper is not suitable due to its hollowness. If you can get only a colored cardboard, attach a white paper to the surface. Or if you make Tazanku out of some pieces of paper, you can use glue made of rice. Natural materials are easy for spirits to approach. Tanzaku must be stood up. Fix it with the a Tanzaku stand (you can make it out of two small notched wooden blocks).

stiff 硬い

boldly はっきり

felt-tip pen マジック

corrugated paper 段ボール紙

hollowness 中空

surface 表面

approach 近づく

notched 刻みの入った

As for the cross-type Tanzaku, I’m not conscious of Christianity. The reason I suggest the form is that, when I visited Izawa-no-miya（伊雑宮） of Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮）, I saw the holy energy spiritually and clearly and received the revelation saying “I’ll change the vertical flows to the horizontal ones.” The Sun God that gave it to me is the super-ancient God that had much to do with the creation of human beings and has spiritual effects on people in foreign countries as well as Japan. Also, you can write the words on Tanzaku from top to bottom in katakana characters of Chinese characters. Or you can do it in a foreign language from left to right using two lines and then stand up the Tanzaku.

as for A Aに関して言えば

conscious 意識して

Christianity キリスト教

revelation 啓示

vertical 縦の

horizontal 横の

creation 創造

Lastly, in the case you’re a foreigner who has naturalized as a Japanese and changed your surname, use the new name in holding memorial services if you has just become naturalized and no relative has died recently. There is no problem in it because the third incense stick can take care of your ancestors with a foreign name. In this case, however, if you feel no effectiveness of the memorial services and feel concerned about your ancestors, you can get another Tanzaku and hold a memorial service using your previous name and then the present name.

lastly 最後に

relative 親戚

effectiveness 効果

You can also prepare two bowls for incense sticks and put them side by side with a little space between them. Or you can hold memorial services using the previous foreign surname at first and later can change the name to the present one. Try some ways according to circumstances. You can decide which way to choose according to your level of understanding of Ise-Hakusan Dou. There’ll be no spiritual problem as long as the Tanzaku is put stably.

side by side 並べて

as long as S+V SがVする限り

stably しっかり

We humans are all connected to our ancestral spirits and live together with them. All spirits, no matter where they are, will be pleased to be shown compassion and gratitude by their descendants. Memorial services held by the method of Ise-Hakusan Dou do have practical effects on ancestral spirits across countries, peoples, religions and cultures.